Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the use of artificial intelligence tools by consumers when making mortgage and other financial product decisions, and (2) the implications of that use for consumer protection.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The majority of mortgage loans are intermediated. Mortgage brokers are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and must comply with FCA Rules including the Consumer Duty and relevant mortgage conduct rules.
Regulated firms are already required to manage technology-related risks to consumers and financial stability, including those arising from the use of artificial intelligence (AI), under existing FCA rules. These include requirements relating to governance, operational resilience and data use.
The Government believes that the safe adoption of AI by the financial services sector is a major strategic opportunity that will power growth across the economy. As set out by the Chancellor in her Mais lecture, the Government’s ambition is for the UK to be the fastest adopter of AI in the G7, to boost productivity, drive economic growth, and deliver better products for consumers.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress has been made on the development and implementation timetable of PAS 2161, the proposed national data standard for road condition monitoring, and what assessment her Department has made of its potential to support more proactive identification of potholes and other road defects by local highway authorities.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
DfT worked with local authorities and the wider highways industry to develop the PAS 2161:2024 Road condition monitoring (RCM) data specification which was published in September 2024, and is available online, at: https://knowledge.bsigroup.com/products/road-condition-monitoring-rcm-data-specification.
In 2025 DfT carried out the process to approve road condition monitoring technologies for use against PAS 2161 for reporting the condition of the local classified road network in England to DfT. The list of PAS 2161 approved technologies was announced in September 2025 and can be found online, at: https://ukrlg.ciht.org.uk/ukrlg-home/guidance/road-condition-information/data-collection/pas-2161/. The report on the approval process can be found at: https://www.trl.co.uk/publications/pas-2161-road-condition-monitoring-trials-2025-report.
As of April 2026, local authorities will be required to use a PAS 2161 approved technology on their classified road. PAS 2161 compliant data will be collected by DfT for the first time in Spring 2027, upon completion of the surveys for the financial year ending March 2027. Further details of the timeline can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/road-condition-monitoring-standard-pas-2161/road-condition-monitoring-standard-pas-2161
PAS 2161 will enable local authorities to collect more comparable and consistent condition data on their classified road network. A range of technology types have been approved for use against PAS 2161. Local authorities will be able to choose any PAS 2161 approved technology allowing them to collect the evidence they need to effectively maintain their roads and meet national reporting requirements.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the contribution of fintech lending platforms to improving access to working capital for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The UK is a world leader in Fintech, and attracted $3.6 billion of investment in 2025, second only to the US. The Government is committed to making the UK the world’s most technologically advanced global financial centre, and remaining a leading jurisdiction for fintech firms to start-up, scale and list.
Fintechs and specialist banks are an essential part of the UK's credit landscape, including access to working capital. The share of total nominal gross bank lending to SMEs by challenger and specialist banks in 2024 was 60 per cent.
Business models and financial technology have also evolved substantially, with more competition both for business banking and credit provision, increasing the options available to small and medium-sized enterprises to invest in and grow their businesses.
Asked by: Lord Kamall (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to prioritise rare cancers research in the next round of National Institute for Health and Care Research funding allocations; and what proportion of the overall cancer research budget will be allocated to (1) brain, (2) liver, (3) stomach, (4) pancreatic, and (5) oesophageal, cancers.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Government responsibility for delivering cancer research is shared between the Department of Health and Social Care, with research delivered by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, with research delivered via UK Research and Innovation.
The Government will implement the Rare Cancers Act to make it easier for clinical trials on rare cancers to take place in England.
The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including rare cancers. Our approach to funding research is through open and fair competition and peer review to ensure that the highest-quality proposals, most likely to deliver real impact for patients, are funded without imposing financial targets or limits.
Welcoming applications on rare cancers to all NIHR programmes enables maximum flexibility both in terms of amount of research funding a particular area can be awarded, and the type of research which can be funded.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the UK’s contribution is to the NATO Innovation Fund.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Following agreement by the Secretary of State for Defence and Chancellor the UK’s participation in the NATO Innovation Fund was announced on 30 June 2022. The fund invests in start-ups developing technology which fall into one of NATO’s defined EDT groups. It will be NATO’s venture capital fund. The fund’s objectives are:
The cost to the UK of participating in the fund is c£11 million per annum until financial year 2029-30.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how much Innovate UK funding has been awarded to organisations based in Lincolnshire in each of the last three financial years.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Innovate UK’s grant funding database shows that during the most recent three full financial years, Innovate UK offered £26.8 million in grant awards to organisations registered in Lincolnshire. This is broken down by financial year as follows:
Financial year | Committed funding |
2022/23 | £11,783,553 |
2023/24 | £8,618,065 |
2024/25 | £6,444,029 |
Total | £26,845,647 |
Asked by: Julia Lopez (Conservative - Hornchurch and Upminster)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of technical, contractual and financial switching barriers in the cloud services market on effective competition for UK businesses and public sector bodies.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is committed to supporting a competitive and innovative digital economy. In July 2025, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) found that certain technical and commercial practices in the cloud market hinder switching and limit effective competition. The CMA recommended its Board prioritise a future Strategic Market Status investigation into cloud competition.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 3 March 2026 to Question 111863, what activities the Intellectual Property Office undertakes in relation to net zero, sustainability or green innovation objectives.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Our sustainability initiatives are focused on meeting our obligations under the Greening Government Commitments, which aim to reduce the environmental impact of our estate and operations. We also ensure that we continue to meet the requirements of ISO 14001, which we hold for our environmental management system.
While we review the future accommodation requirements of our headquarters, we are not planning any significant investment in the estate. Current activity is therefore limited to essential maintenance and smaller improvements to maintain efficiency. Recent initiatives include the installation of new energy efficient boilers in our warehouse facility; a reduction in the number of fleet vans and the journeys that they undertake; and replacement of air conditioning units with more efficient units. We’re also reviewing our waste processes to reduce overall waste and improve the amount we recycle.
Further detail on our sustainability activity for the previous financial year is set out in the sustainability chapter of our Annual Report and Accounts.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she has undertaken analysis of financial losses to UK consumers arising from engagement with illegal streaming services; and whether he is taking steps to mitigate those losses.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The UK Government recognises the challenges that illegal streaming services creates for intellectual property (IP) owners, creators, businesses and consumers. We work closely with law enforcement partners, rights holders, consumers, and industry to understand where and how this is taking place.
The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has conducted research into the scale of digital piracy, and IP infringement more broadly across multiple sectors. For example, two IPO consumer surveys published in 2025 demonstrated that digital piracy continues to be a challenge in the UK. In 2024, 29% of UK residents aged 12+ (around 17.2 million) had recently accessed online content that infringed IP rights. This activity can have a negative impact on businesses. These impacts include, but are not limited to, lost sales and the costs related to monitoring and enforcement.
This information is used, along with other data we collect on online infringement (e.g., use of counterfeit goods) to help design measures that can affect consumer behaviour and provide cost-effective, targeted enforcement procedures.
Asked by: Oliver Dowden (Conservative - Hertsmere)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to improve accessibility and reduce financial barriers to training and career progression within the freelance screen workforce.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Creative Industries Sector Plan sets out our approach to developing a high-quality and targeted skills and training offer, meeting the workforce requirements of the creative industries. This includes responding to the rapid changes in the screen sector to build a resilient skills base that can adapt and thrive as new opportunities emerge, and to retain knowledge within the domestic freelance workforce. We are supporting industry to develop skills passports, which will support the documenting and transfer of industry-recognised skills and competencies.
The Government’s £10 million investment in the National Film and Television School (NFTS) will deliver 2,000 new trainee and apprenticeship opportunities and has unlocked £11 million in private investment from partners including Disney, the Broccoli Foundation, and Sky. The investment is focused on increasing access for disabled students and providing structured career paths. This adds to the Government's investment in infrastructure to support virtual production and adoption of emerging technology as part of the government’s £75.6 million investment in the CoSTAR programme and its expansion through DCMS's £25 million Createch Futures.
As part of the BFI National Lottery Funding Plan 2026-2029, £35.55 million will also be provided for Skills and Workforce Development. This includes a refreshed BFI Film Academy with additional Government funding, continuation of the BFI National Lottery Skills Clusters Fund and the WorkWise for Screen pilot.
More broadly, this Government is transforming the apprenticeships offer into a new growth and skills offer, which will offer greater flexibility to employers and learners. As of August 2025, shorter apprenticeships are now possible for screen and audio production assistant apprentices, and from April 2026, we will introduce short course ‘apprenticeship units’ in areas such as digital and AI. Additionally, Skills Bootcamps continue to offer free, flexible courses of up to 16 weeks in areas including Film Production and Screen Crafts, giving people the chance to build sector-specific skills with an offer of a job interview on completion.
In November, Skills England also introduced the UK Standard Skills Classification, the first standardised skills framework of its kind in our country, to help everyone from individual job seekers to major employers to navigate the world of skills with confidence.